Lawyers say DNA results support Skinner; prosecutors scoff

Updated 12:20 am, Friday, August 30, 2013

Photo: Michael Graczyk, STF

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**ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND MARCH 20- 21** In this photo taken Dec. 16, 2009 is death row inmate Hank Skinner seen in the visiting area of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Polunksy Unit in West Livingston, Texas. Skinner, 47, convicted of a triple slaying in Pampa more than 16 years ago, is scheduled to die March 24, 2010 in Hunstville. (AP Photo/Michael Graczyk) less

**ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND MARCH 20- 21** In this photo taken Dec. 16, 2009 is death row inmate Hank Skinner seen in the visiting area of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Polunksy Unit in West Livingston, ... more

Photo: Michael Graczyk, STF

Lawyers say DNA results support Skinner; prosecutors scoff

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Lawyers for convicted triple killer Henry Skinner on Thursday said long-deferred DNA testing of previously unexamined evidence suggests the former paralegal may be innocent of the 1993 New Year's Eve murders of his lover and her two adult sons.

Skinner, who twice has been handed execution dates and received stays, has gained international notoriety as he has struggled, over more than a decade, to obtain testing of such items as hair, rape test samples and bloody items taken from the Pampa murder scene.

In an advisory to Skinner's Pampa trial court, the inmate's lead attorney, Rob Owen, said three human hairs found in the dead woman's hand came from one of her maternal relatives, possibly an uncle who had sexually harassed her the night of the killings.

A fourth hair, he conceded, came from Skinner, who shared a home with the victims.

Not convinced

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office countered that the mitochondrial DNA testing did not eliminate the possibility that the three hairs belonged to the victims. Owen, though, told the court that earlier microscopic examination of the hairs showed they came from someone other than those killed.

Skinner, 51, was condemned for the murders of Twila Busby and her adult sons, Edwin Caler and Randy Busby. Twila Busby was bludgeoned; the men were stabbed.

In June 2012, Abbott agreed that about 40 items could be subjected to DNA testing, noting that Skinner's original defense lawyer had not had the items tested because he feared they would incriminate his client.

In November, Abbott advised the trial court that testing to that date had not found evidence supporting Skinner's innocence.

Testing three hairs

In the latest tests, Owen told the court that three hairs in Busby's hands had come from one of the victims' maternal relatives. Mitochondrial testing can track items to maternal family lines, but not to individuals.

Owen argued that the victims' maternal relatives may have visited her home, but "it is highly unlikely that three of their hairs would have found their way into Ms. Busby's hands by incidental contact."

Busby's uncle, Robert Donnell, who since has died, made "crude sexual advances" to the woman less than an hour before she was murdered, Owen argued. Days after the murders, he was seen scrubbing out the interior of his truck. He showed little emotion when authorities told him of the deaths.

Additionally, he noted in the advisory, witnesses said a blood-stained jacket found at the crime scene belonged to Donnell. Authorities could not locate the garment, which had been collected as evidence, for DNA testing.

Skinner, a one-time paralegal, consistently claimed he had been incapacitated by alcohol and codeine at the time of the killings. After the murders were discovered, police found him at the nearby home of a former girlfriend.

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